I stopped by a week ago and it seems like a friendly place so I think I'll hang around a bit 
Last year just before "Mowvember", a friend gifted me a Merkur razor and some Gillette 7-oclock Super platinum blades. Prior to that, I'd been using Gillette Mach 3 & Fuzion razors. I couldn't hold out for the entire month of November but after one shave with the DE, those replaceable cartridge razors were retired! The Gillette blades were running low so I began looking around and I stumbled across this forum. After reading some (a lot), I bought a sampler pack and the first blade I tried was the Derby. Very nice
Seems sharper than the Gillette. When I began, I was using Every Man Jack or Neutrogena shave cream. They were OK but there was so much discussion on lathering shave creams and soaps so of course I had to try some. OMG there are so many to choose from 
About then I remembered a little container my friend gave me. Yes it was soap but I had no brush. Well I grabbed, don't laugh..., no, laugh your butt out of your chair, an unused small paint brush I had laying around. On inch wide, pure bristles (of what who knows). Added a lil' water, lathered it up and gave it a go. Believe it or not, it gave a better shave than the shave creams I had. Next up (very, very soon) will be a real shave brush but man-oh-man, the variety there is astounding 
Well, that's all for now and no I'll not embarrass myself any further by including a pic of the paint/shave brush
Last year just before "Mowvember", a friend gifted me a Merkur razor and some Gillette 7-oclock Super platinum blades. Prior to that, I'd been using Gillette Mach 3 & Fuzion razors. I couldn't hold out for the entire month of November but after one shave with the DE, those replaceable cartridge razors were retired! The Gillette blades were running low so I began looking around and I stumbled across this forum. After reading some (a lot), I bought a sampler pack and the first blade I tried was the Derby. Very nice
Seems sharper than the Gillette. When I began, I was using Every Man Jack or Neutrogena shave cream. They were OK but there was so much discussion on lathering shave creams and soaps so of course I had to try some. OMG there are so many to choose from About then I remembered a little container my friend gave me. Yes it was soap but I had no brush. Well I grabbed, don't laugh..., no, laugh your butt out of your chair, an unused small paint brush I had laying around. On inch wide, pure bristles (of what who knows). Added a lil' water, lathered it up and gave it a go. Believe it or not, it gave a better shave than the shave creams I had. Next up (very, very soon) will be a real shave brush but man-oh-man, the variety there is astounding Well, that's all for now and no I'll not embarrass myself any further by including a pic of the paint/shave brush
